Russia has decided to ban some transit flights across the country by Ukrainian airlines and is considering imposing a ban on flights from the EU and US, Russian Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev said Thursday.

“Russia will cancel
all transit flights for Ukrainian airlines through its airspace
into Georgia, Azerbaijan, Armenia and Turkey,” Medvedev said
during a government meeting on Thursday.

Russia is considering closing its airspace to EU and US airlines
as a part of the countermeasures to Western sanctions which
affected Aeroflot subsidiary Dobrolet, Prime Minister confirmed.

“The measures
include a ban on transit flights by European and US air carriers
to Southeast Asia, and to the Asia-Pacific Region,"
ITAR-TASS quotes Medvedev.

“We are looking at changing the
so-called points of entry and exit from our airspace for
scheduled European air carrier and charter
flights," Medvedev
said, adding that this would have an effect on flight costs and
hence impact the prices of tickets sold by Western
companies.

"I don’t want to comment on rumors, but everybody knows how
actively Russian airspace is used by foreign airlines, including
those from Europe, the United States and Asia," the minister
stressed.

At the same time, Lavrov said the Russian government is
considering a number of retaliatory steps.

The government is also
“potentially
ready” to introduce
protective measures in a number of industrial sectors including
the automobile industry, shipbuilding and aircraft production,
Medvedev said, however stressing that Russia will
“perform them
meaningfully.”

However the final decision to apply the measures has not been
confirmed.

European 'tit for tat'

In an interview with Deutsche Welle published Wednesday Richard
Kuhnel, the European Commission representative in Germany, said
Europe was ready for a “tit for tat” action against
Russia, and could close its airspace to Russian airlines if
Moscow decided to block flights to Asia over Siberia

Air routes are arranged internationally and Russia is obliged to
follow the rules the same way it follows the rules of
organizations like the WTO. It means that Russia can't
unilaterally apply measures without violating international law,
Kuhnel emphasized.

Another option for the EU would be applying to the relevant
international bodies.

The European Commission said it was not commenting on moves until
they become official.

On August 4 Dobrolet suspended flights, citing the EU sanctions.
The move came after European contractors terminated the leases on
aircraft, technical maintenance, insurance and navigation
contracts because of the European Union's economic sanctions
against Russia.